The precious gift

 

 

When God had finished making the world,

 

he sat and brooded. He wanted to

 

make something very special. He wanted to

 

leave behind a piece of His own divinity,

 

a spark of His essence, a promise to

 

man of what he could become, with effort. He

 

thought and thought… and finally made the

 

precious gift, which he wanted to give to

 

the mankind.

 

 

 

He looked for a place to hide this precious gift

 

because, He explained, what man could find

 

too easily, he would never value in the true

 

sense. He debated about the place with his

 

counsellors who were puzzled that God

 

Himself was looking for a place in his own

 

creation to hide his precious gift.

 

 

 

They started suggesting every impossible

 

place where man, they thought, could never

 

reach. "Then you must hide this gift on the

 

highest mountain peak on the earth," said one

 

of his counsellors, “he can never climb the

 

mountain of that altitude.”

 

 

 

God shook His head, "You do not know... [More]

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What do you mean

 

by peace?

 

 

There once was a king who loved art; art that

 

would reflect life. He had patronised many artists

 

in his court. Their task was to depict what he felt.

 

 

 

One day, the king was particularly distressed on

 

account of some issues, which led him to think,

 

“I have everything a man could ask for. But

 

peace of mind continues to evade me.” And

 

then an idea struck him. He summoned the royal

 

artists in his court and announced that he

 

would be giving a prize to the artist who would

 

best capture the essence of peace through

 

his painting.

 

 

 

The artists set to work and worked really hard.

 

Their paintings mirrored every possible symbol

 

of peace. Finally, the king looked at all the

 

pictures presented to him. But only two of the

 

paintings really appealed to him. He had to

 

make a choice between the two.

 

 

 

The first painting was that of a calm lake. The

 

lake was a perfect reflection for the towering lush

 ...

[More]

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The missing

 

white pebble

 

 

 

Several years ago, a farmer in a small village

 

suffered a misfortune and ended up owing a

 

large sum of money to the village

 

moneylender. The moneylender, who was old

 

and ugly, fancied the farmer's beautiful

 

daughter. So he proposed a bargain. He said

 

he would waive off the farmer's debt if the

 

farmer gave him his daughter in marriage.

 

Both the farmer and his daughter were

 

horrified by the proposal.

 

 

 

So the cunning moneylender suggested they

 

let providence decide the matter. They were

 

standing on a pebble strewn path in the

 

farmer's field. He told them that he

 

would put a black pebble and a white

 

pebble into an empty money bag.

 

Then, the girl would have to pick one

 

pebble from the bag. If she picked

 

the black pebble, she would

 

become his wife and her father's

 

debt would be forgiven. If she

 

picked the white pebble, she need

 

not marry him and her father's debt

 

would still be forgiven. However, if

 

she refused... [More]

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Have the time

 

of your life

 

 

It was September 10, and in two days

 

I would be turning thirty. I was insecure about

 

entering a new decade of my life and feared

 

that my best years were now behind me. The

 

thought of being in the thirties haunted me

 

day and night.

 

 

 

My daily routine included going to the

 

gym for a workout before going to work. I

 

always found it rejuvenating to go to the gym

 

first, not just for the work out but also to see

 

my friend Pradip at the gym. He was

 

seventy-five years old and in terrific shape.

 

As I greeted Pradip on this particular day, he

 

noticed I wasn't full of my usual vitality

 

and asked if there was anything wrong.

 

I told him I was feeling anxious about turning

 

thirty. I wondered how I would look back on

 

my life once I had reached Pradip's age.

 

So I asked him, "What was the best time of

 

your life?"

 

 

 

Without hesitation, Pradip replied, "Well,

 

this is... [More]

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Zen and the

 

art of driving

 

 

 

My boyhood dream was to acquire a big

 

fancy motorcycle and become a knight of the

 

open highways.

 

 

 

But getting a license to drive a bike was a

 

completely different story! I had to learn the

 

rules of the road by heart and practice driving,

 

so that I could safely pass between

 

strategically placed pylons without touching

 

them. I had to learn to maneuver through

 

crowded city streets, never forgetting to signal

 

my intentions to other drivers.

 

 

 

It was a long and arduous process. But my

 

driving instructor was philosophical about it.

 

I remember one particularly difficult lesson.

 

I had taken a fall and simply could not steer

 

the bike around a curve between the

 

obstacles. I got upset and started to doubt if

 

I could ever succeed. "It's no good; I'll never

 

be able to pass the test!" I cried.

 

 

 

"Calm down," my instructor said. "You may not

 

know it, but you're making good progress

 

every day." I'd been a teacher myself,... [More]

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The lighthouse

 

 

Once upon a time a man had heard that in a

 

foreign place, far away, there was a holy flame

 

burning - the flame of life, which would bring

 

happiness to anyone who possessed it. So he

 

got up and left his home to find the holy flame.

 

He wanted to bring some of its light back

 

home. He thought: 'When I have this light,

 

then I will have happiness and life and all the

 

people I love will have it too.'

 

 

 

He travelled far, far away and finally found the

 

holy flame, with which he lit his light. On his

 

way back, he had only one worry. 'This light

 

should not go out.' He was anxious to keep it

 

burning, protect it from the wind and rain. He

 

kept it close to his heart.

 

 

 

Then he met someone who was freezing

 

and didn't have any fire. He begged

 

him for some of his fire to keep himself warm.

 

The man with the light hesitated for a moment.

 

Wasn't his light too precious,... [More]

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Life’s but a bubble…

 

Alexander, after conquering many kingdoms,

 

was returning home. On the way, he fell ill.

 

With death staring him in his face, Alexander

 

realized how his conquests, his great army,

 

his sharp sword and all his wealth were of

 

no consequence.

 

 

 

He now longed to reach home to see his

 

mother's face and bid her his last adieu. But,

 

he had to accept the fact that his sinking

 

health would not permit him to reach his

 

distant homeland. So, the mighty conqueror

 

lay prostrate and pale, helplessly waiting to

 

breathe his last. He called his generals and

 

said, "I will depart from this world soon. I have

 

three wishes, please carry them out without

 

fail." With tears flowing down their cheeks,

 

the generals agreed to abide by their king's

 

last wishes.

 

 

 

“My first desire is that," said Alexander, "My

 

physicians alone must carry my coffin." After a

 

pause, he continued, "Secondly, I desire that

 

when my coffin is being carried to the grave,

 

the path leading to the graveyard be... [More]

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Posted at: 02:11 AM | 0 Comments | Add Comment | Permalink

The 99-club

 

 

Once upon a time, there lived a king. He had

 

everything a man could ask for – name, fame,

 

money and power. Despite everything, the

 

king was not content. He was always restless

 

 and felt that something was missing in his life.

 

 

 

One day, the king was walking in

 

his garden. He came upon a servant who was

 

singing happily, as he worked. This fascinated

 

the king. He thought as to why he,

 

the supreme ruler of the land, was unhappy

 

and gloomy while a lowly servant was

 

so content?

 

 

 

The king asked the servant, "Why are you so

 

happy?" The servant replied, "Your Majesty, I

 

am happy because I feel that I have

 

everything in life. There is nothing more I can

 

ask for. I have a roof over my head, food toeat and clothes to wear."

 

 

 

The king was not satisfied with the reply. He

 

was in a dilemma. He had everything the

 

servant mentioned and more, but contentment

 

still seemed to evade him.

 

 

 ...

[More]

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